Point Count Point: World Literature Takes A Position by Hebron Tech

By Lizzie Emerson

My body, my choice. Not your body, not your opinion. Abortion has been long debated and people have very conflicting opinions on this topic. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, and it has many supporters but also many opposers. Abortion is seen by some as selfish and unneeded, but is some cases is necessary. In fact abortion is extremely safe, one of the safest procedures, and it can save a women’s mental and physical state when an unplanned pregnancy occurs. Despite what some people think, abortion is not inhuman and sometimes is necessary. It is the women’s choice and is should not be frowned upon by others not involved. Abortion is thought of as dangerous, but it is actually very safe and does not put the women in danger. While comparing abortion to other surgeries, a reliable doctor confirms, “Abortion is proven to be one of the safest procedures in medicine” (Alters). People opposing abortion because it is unsafe are completely in the wrong. A professional MD says that abortion is more safe than most other surgeries people undergo. Doctors take in consideration the women’s unique characteristics to find the technique for their individual body. Sometimes women are in the position where they desperately need an abortion, and sometimes is a safer option to go through with an abortion than carry a fetus for nine months. If the woman wants to get an abortion, it is her choice and people should not worry if it “safe or not”. Abortion is safer than childbirth and sometimes that is the only route the women has if she wants to survive. After explaining how safe abortion actually is,

more safe than most other surgeries people undergo. Doctors take in consideration the women’s unique characteristics to find the technique for their individual body. Sometimes women are in the position where they desperately need an abortion, and sometimes is a safer option to go through with an abortion than carry a fetus for nine months. If the woman wants to get an abortion, it is her choice and people should not worry if it “safe or not”. Abortion is safer than childbirth and sometimes that is the only route the women has if she wants to survive. After explaining how safe abortion actually is, a medical doctor reveals, “Safer than childbirth, and in fact has saved numerous women’s lives” (Alters). Believe it or not, in some cases the baby indirectly starts to kill its mother and causes her a lot of pain. In these cases abortion is “Safer than childbirth, recommended by the doctor to save the women carrying the and in fact has saved baby. The baby can affect the numerous women’s lives” women’s health and can cause big issues for the mother. When this happens, abortion is the only safe option for the women. A woman should be able to make the choice about what do because it is her life on the line. Additionally, there are statistics that show how safe abortion really is. While talking about the study's findings, Berg confirms, “Women experience serious complications less than 1 percent of the time… When a woman goes to an emergency room after an abortion, in half the cases it is for conditions unrelated to the abortion… The majority of abortion-related complications women experience are minor” (Berg). There is proof that abortion is safe and that usually women are in the emergency room for something completely unrelated. Berg also give that statistic that less than one percent of woman go through a

serious problem and in all these statistics it is half or less than half. That proves that abortion is very safe for the woman and gives her the option she may need to survive. Her choice belongs to herself and her family, who will be directly affected. Women’s health and mental stability are largely affected by pregnancy. While remembering the times abortion was illegal, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein cringes, “When I was a college student, I watched the passing of the plate to collect money so young women could go to Tijuana for an abortion” (Alters). The idea of collecting money to go to Tijuana for an abortion sends chills down the spine. When the choice of an abortion was not a option for women, they were forced to take huge risks like this. Going to Tijuana for an abortion is certainly not safe and would put the woman is serious danger. Sometimes women get pregnant by accident and are still in school getting ready to start their life. They should have the choice to get an abortion because having a kid will have a big impact on their life. Still remembering her college days, Dianne Feinstein continues, “I knew a woman who ended her life because she was pregnant” (Alters). Suicide. Being pregnant pushed a girl to suicide. That could have easily been avoided

some big key components. As he testifies that late-term abortions should be illegal, Thomas Grissom says, “A fetus has intact nervous system capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks” (Alters). It is a fact that a fetus can experience pain after twenty weeks, but late-term abortions are not common. If a women is going to have an abortion, she makes that decision and goes through with it before the twenty week mark. So while this is true, it is not a very strong argument to take away the women’s right to choose. The only reason an abortion would happen after twenty weeks is if the women was in serious danger. The abortion would only take place to save the women’s life and only if the was the only option left. A women should not be deprived of the choice to save her life. Abortion is a difficult concept to think about and it is not particularly easy to talk about, but it is serious and a huge choice in a women’s life. That is why the decision belongs to the person directly affected. Imagine being in a woman’s shoes and just think about the weight she must feel on her shoulders. She does not need outsiders or the government making this huge decision for her. Abortion is a safe option if her life is in danger while carrying the baby, and is the right option if her mental and physical state is threatened. Abortion is a decision between a women and her family, and is a right that the government should not be able to take away.

Work Cited Alters, Sandra M. “Text of a Letter.” Abortion: An Eternal Social and Moral Issue, 2010 ed., Gale, 2010. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ133600325/OVIC? u=heb76203&xid=f93ae1b0. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018

Alters, Sandra. M “The Roe v Wade Decision Should Not Be Reconsidered.” Abortion: An Eternal Social and Moral Issue, 2010 ed., Gale, 2010. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ133600325/OVIC?u=heb76203&xid=f93ae1b0. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018

Alters, Sandra M. “Late-term Abortions Should Be Illegal.” Abortion: An Eternal Social and Moral Issue, 2010 ed., Gale, 2010. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ133600325/OVIC?u=heb76203&xid=f93ae1b0. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018

Berg, Mariam. “Study Confirms What We Already Knew: Abortion Is Safe.” Planned Parenthood Action Fund, 10 Dec. 2014, www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/blog/study-confirms-what-we-already-knew-a bortion-safe

Benefits of Bilingualism By: Joe Godomsky An opportunity presents itself granting a positive impact on your life, it takes hard work and lots of practice, but the benefits are substantial, do you take it? Bilingualism is the process or act of knowing two or more languages. It is a common practice among millions of individuals around the world. No matter where you are on the map, being bilingual is a common experience today. The United States accepts people from all over the globe, we have a very diverse culture. From 1980 to present, the percentage of bilingual speakers in the United States has risen 12% (Shook). This suggests that the amount of bilingual speakers across America is increasing. In Europe, the amount of bilingual speakers is 56%, far outpacing the United States (Shook). Bilingual speakers tend to have stronger social skills and higher standardized test scores than monolingual speakers. Being bilingual is extremely important and offers individuals immense benefits; moreover, it provides many long term brain benefits, allows to be more cultured, and leads to live a longer and healthier life. Being bilingual is extremely important and offers individuals immense benefits; moreover, it provides many long term brain benefits, allows to be more cultured, and leads to live a longer and healthier life. Bilingualism allows for an increase in intellect and curiosity while gaining many long term brain benefits. The benefits are clearly visible; in fact, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Being bilingual can have tangible practical benefits. The improvements in cognitive and sensory processing driven by bilingual experience may help a bilingual person to better process information in the environment, leading to a clearer signal for learningâ&#x20AC;? (Shook). Bilingual speakers have strong brain benefits among their cognitive and sensory departments, leading to better learning and understanding. No matter how young one is, being bilingual can help. Researchers have found that experiencing and encompassing bilingual speakers can have positive benefits for kids as young as seven months (Shook). Even for young children, experiencing two languages at once can have a strong intellectual impact. According to professors at George Mason University, if multiple languages are spoken in the classroom, students test scores are higher, they have a happier personality, their attendance is better, and behavior problems are reduced (Kamenetz). Along with all these benefits for ones intellect, speaking many languages allows for more diverse opportunities and enhances cultured perspectives.

Bilingualism, in having positive brain benefits and a positive impact, can increase your lifespan and allow for a longer and healthier life. Bilingualism fends off the decline of cognitive function and maintains the cognitive reserve. It conserves your brain and protects it from being damaged for the future (Shook). Even as one ages, the benefits of bilingualism are lasting. Research has shown, “Older bilingual people enjoy improved memory and executive control relative to older monolingual people, which can lead to real-world health benefits”(Shook). Older people who have grown up speaking two languages continue to enjoy health benefits. These benefits include increased lifespan, healthier cognitive function, and reduced damage to the brain. All these benefits allow for a longer and happier life for bilingual speakers. Many may argue that a monolingual speaker doesn’t need to speak two l languages if he or she doesn’t interact with two different languages every day. Or someone may say that learning two languages occupies too much time. However, just because you know and are fluent in one language means you are being held back. Your wide span of opportunity is ginormous when you speak two or more languages. Only good can come from speaking more than one language. Even if you don’t interact with two languages every day, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be an opportunity in the future that will benefit from being bilingual. Even despite the amount of time that learning a new language occupies, it will be very worth it in the future. Monolingual speakers are condensed into a box while bilingual speakers are free to experience so many different things that otherwise monolingual people wouldn’t be able to. Some may say bilingualism isn’t something worth exploring and trying, but many strongly believe that with all the benefits that bilingualism has, everyone should make an attempt to learn another language. Bilingualism is extremely important and offers an immense amount of benefits, including long term brain benefits, allows one to be more cultured, and leads to a longer and healthier life. Words Cited Kamenetz, Anya. “6 Potential Brain Benefits of Bilingual Education.” NprEd, 29 Nov. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/29/497943749/6potential-brain-benefits-of-bilingual-education. Shook, Anthony. “The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual.” NCBI, 31 Oct. 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583091/.

Lowering the Drinking Age Saves Lives By: Jordyn Mecervier

Imagine the students in college who drink illegally, what if it was legal for them to drink. The legal drinking age in the United States wasn't always twentyone. In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act required all fifty states to raise the legal drinking age to twentyone, or they would lose ten percent of their federal highway funds (Daniloﬀ). Now back to current time, many people think the drinking age should be lowered, but some disagree because nowadays there are many problems with underage drinking, that can be resolved by lowering the legal drinking age. Many students in college drink; they are rebellious and because of that, the students start binge drinking, but if we lowered the drinking age then all of these problems would be no more.

The drinking age should be lowered because today underage drinking in college is well known, studies have shown that eighty percent of college students drink (Singh). Most of the drinking happens in sororities, where campus police can't get to them. Sometime the students who can't get into the sororities or their parties take risks to get alcohol, and because of that, they are not in safe places. That can lead to other very bad things happening. Bad things like drunk consent or sexual assault happen all the time. It happens because after the students drink they have to get back to where they live and most of the time it's very dangerous for them to get home (Wavrin). Businesses around colleges have even raised the prices of alcohol just so it would be harder for the students to aﬀorded but they still get it and when they get it, it can lead to things like binge drinking (wavrin).

A lot of college students that drink are taking part of binge drinking. Binge drinking is the cause of a good number of deaths in America. Not only death is a bad thing that comes from binge drinking. Almost two out of three people who drink, binge drink and it can lead to assault or sexual assault. There are 97,000 sexual assaults amount college students that contribute to binge drinking every year (Wavrin). Since the 1980s binge drinking accidents have increased greatly because of (Singh). In past years there were more binge drinking accidents than drunk driving accidents. The binge drinking gets worse and worse every year. Students who binge drink partake in something called “pregaming” the students take multiple shots of hard alcohol before going to parties that either do or do not serve alcohol at the parties. (McCardell) If the drinking age was lowered then these students would have to pregame and binge drink, because they will be more responsible and they wouldn't have to take risks.

Since the 1980s binge drinking accidents have increased greatly because of (Singh). In past years there were more binge drinking accidents than drunk driving accidents. The binge drinking gets worse and worse every year. Students who binge drink partake in something called “pregaming” the students take multiple shots of hard alcohol before going to parties that either do or do not serve alcohol at the parties. (McCardell) Type to enter text If the drinking age There are 97,000 was lowered then sexual assaults these students would have to pregame and amount college students that binge drink, because contribute to they will be more binge drinking responsible and they wouldn't have to take every year risks.

Every year the students get more and more risky when it comes to drinking but if the drinking age was lowered they wouldn't need to be. Since most college students are not yet old enough to buy their own alcohol, they rely on older friends, family, and even strangers to buy it for them (Wavrin). But not only that, some students take a risk to buy a fake ID, which can be very bad for them if they get caught having/using a fake. If the students are caught using a fake, the store has to confiscate it and call the police, which puts a bad name on storekeepers with the students. If the drinking age was lowered, then parents could teach their kids about the dangers and how to be responsible with alcohol. They would prepare them, and make everything safer to their kids, they would teach them the dangerous of drinking and drunk driving. They would learn at a younger age by experiencing it for themselves safely ( McCardell).

Some argue that if the drinking age was lowered drunk driving by the students would increase. However, most drunk driving is done by people that are of the legal age to drink. People that are addicted to alcohol and others who make bad choices are the ones who do the most drunk driving. If the drinking age was lowered the students would take fewer risks because they will be more cautious because they have plenty of time to experiment safely with alcohol at bars and places where they can be watched and cut oﬀ and not overdoing it, all because they are legal to drink.

Overall if the legal age was lowered then college students would be more responsible and take less risks when drinking. They wouldn't binge drink or risk their safety because they would have safe places to drink and wouldn't need to “pregame”. The students would be more responsible than they are right now. They would be prepared for the adult world with alcohol. The drinking age should be lowered, because it can save lives from students who binge drink, and students who do risky things to get the alcohol.

Works Cited

Daniloﬀ, Caleb. “Drinking 18 vs. 21.” Boston University, 21 Dec. 2010, www.bu.edu/ today/2010/drinking-18-vs-21. Accessed 20 Feb. 2018.

Griggs, Brandon. “Should the U.S. Lower Its Drinking Age?” CNN, 4 Jan. 2015, www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/us/legaldrinking-age/index.html. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.

Singh, Maanvi. “Legal Drinking Age of 21 Saves Lives,Even Though It’s Flouted.” NPR, 24 Feb. 2014, www.npr.org/sections/ health-shots/2014/02/24/282072818/ the-21-drinking-age-may-save-lives-eventhough-it’s-flouted. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.

Wavrin, Anna, and Abigail R. Hall-Blanco. “Lower the Legal Drinking Age.” Newsday, 3 Jan. 2017, www.newsday.com. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.

Mental Health Problem

On the race of revolution by—Pauline Han

center for students because of how easy it is to treat mental health problem, and the benefit for the prospect of students. In China, some of the new generation parents in order to prevent themselves from I’ve been staying in the same situation for ten being the conventional parents, considering years long, stepping on an infinite staircase. A that the students in secondary school or high year ago, everyone around me was bending their school are at the age of adolescence; the head down to the pile of school work, emotional problems is normal and universal, overwhelming themselves in silence. The they thought that it’s a perfect opportunity to atmosphere was glacial and suffocating as I was challenge their kids to be independent and sitting in the middle of the classroom. I was abstinence; therefore, parents used to being one who struggles are encouraged to be silence and fights for the terminal test It seems like a giant and avoiding to interfere (Gaokao), waiting for the children’s own affair and moment of seeing the finishing who is strong and emotion. However, even line and crossing it at the next powerful but merely though those parents get rid moment. However the race is not put the center of of the title of “conventional” easy for every single one of us. I was always out of breath. It’s not gravity on one side of or “traditional”, they are covered their eyes by the uncanny to see the black circles his body when he is “common of the problem”. hanging under everyone’s eyes “Common” doesn’t mean which were caused by staying up walking; the further there is no problem to solve. late for finishing the homework. he walks, the weaker In America, one in five Nobody cares who I am or how I another leg is. children and youth have a am, I was always staring at the diagnosable emotional, red mark on the test paper. Most behavioral or mental health disorder and one of the student lost our identity during this long in ten young people have a mental heal race. We never found any rest stop on the way, challenge that is severe enough to impair how the exhaustion scramble up all over our body, they function at home, school or in the they can even encroach and corrode our mind. community. In America, many estimates show Is it necessary for a school to build up a that even though mental illness affects so whole system to support students’ mental many of kids aged 6-17, at least one-half and health? Some people believe that it is not a many estimates as many as eighty percent of school’s responsibility. In fact the schools them do not receive the mental health care should build up a mental health center for they need (“Problems at School”). The issue is students. Even though people commonly think so common, but the shock and fear are that the pressure is mainly caused by the reflected by this series of the statistic. Query schoolwork, the potential issue is proliferating yourself, is it normal that this common gradually since we ignore them. All the schools problem happens to those teenagers who are not only for the Chinese educational system, attending in the school and grew up by the oblige to build or complete a mental health

educational environment? The answer is clear and indubitable--it isn’t normal at all, the care provided for those students is too limited. Too many focus on the physical health and the development of students’ cognition, but the mental health and the self-worth are thought as negligible compared to the grade that the students gain in the school. It seems like a giant who is strong and powerful but merely put the center of gravity on one side of his body when he is walking; the further he walks, the weaker another leg is. Someday, he will fall even if he is still a giant, because he has already been out of balance. Schools have to take responsibility to keep the system balanced and prevent the giant from tumbling. There are some specific treatment and supports that can assist students. The problems are treatable. If we have already realized the problem existed, the next step must have to take action on treatment. Who is going to provide the help and proper site for the student to meet their need? Schools are ideal places to provide mental health services to children and youth. In the U.S, virtually every community has a school and most children spend at least six hours in the school every day. School offers an ideal context for prevention, intervention, positive development, and regular communication between school and families. School-employed professionals like school psychologists, school counselors, school social workers, and school nurses know the students, parents, and other staff, which contributes to the accessibility of services. In fact, research has shown that students are more likely to seek counseling when services are available in schools. In some cases, such as rural areas, schools provide the only mental health

services in the community(“School-based mental health service”). Although it may cost school in the process of building up this system, the long-term effect not only benefits on the individual students but also on create and sustain safety on campus and the system of educational achievement, since the decrease of the mental problem exist among the students. Research demonstrates that students who receive social-emotional and mental health support achieve better academically(“Schoolbased mental health service”), which related to the prospect of students. The research shows the early detection and intervention strategies work. They can help improve resilience and the ability in school and life. On the contrary, only forty percent of students with emotional, behavioral and mental health disorder graduated from high school in America, compared to the national average of seventy-six percent; and over fifty percent of students with emotional and behavioral and behavioral disabilities ages fourteen and older, dropping out of high school. This is the highest dropping out rate of any disability group(“School-based mental health service”). There are some more extreme and worse cases. The national juvenile crime rate is increasing these years, and the suicide event of youth and teenager in school is no longer rare. In China, the suicide problem is especially severe. China’s education system is notorious for its focus on rote memorization and intense competition. The biggest culprit of stress for China’s youth— the Gaokao, or college-entrance exam— has long been the subject of critique. For many students, doing well on this exam is considered a ticket to a better future, as colleges judge applicants based solely on their scores. Despite the obvious need for hotlines and other psychological help to prevent suicide, the country provides few outlet for troubled youth. Wan Yanjie, an organizer at the Life Education& Crisis Intervention Center, says the number of

calls the center receives from teenagers is still low, in part because of a lack of marketing for such intervention services at schools (Deng). If a student ends up his own life for having too much pressure in school, such a pity, a brilliant prospect is extinguished by the wrong way of relief; there should be the way to release the pressure properly—setting up the mental health service for those problem students. However, someone affirms that instead of building up mental health center, it’s better to reduce the pressure on school which is the origin of the pressure. The reason why they would like to think in this way is that they only see the visible part of the problems— mental health problems may cost a lot to finance as well as time. They are partly right; however, they do not realize that the reason is not sole, the mental health problem may be caused by the family or friendship and various aspect of their life. On one hand, for mental health service, it’s important to keep in mind that all kids are unique with differing needs and coping mechanisms. The mental health intervention that is chosen needs to be based on the individual need of each child and be able to be flexible in order to provide more or less support needed. On the other hand, every coin has two sides. It may be a long-term and costly process to be successful; The schools will receive their payoff if the schools did what students exactly need. The mental health service can indirectly provide a sustained learning context for all the students. A healthy context or attitude towards studying is essential, which can also help to create a healthy relationship among the students. The students who received the mental help can cope with the other problems in their life as well not only for the school. The power of psychology is multifarious, it’s beneficial for their whole life. The issue is essential to be treated and it’s treatable if we are aware of it and to be patient. it is like a sunshine, which can disperse over world; nevertheless, there are lots of corners which are dank. We are

responsible to spread the idea to those damp corner by our own action. Not only the school but also the students and their parents should be aware of the problems which are around but hardly drew the attention of society. Education supports the revolution of human ability, in turns, we always have to give a revolution for better education system. Millions of students are running a long race to their future which represents the hope and prospect of the new generation of human society. They cannot be the flowers in a conservatory, but they still need the support from family, school, community as well as society, which is the engine energy of their unstoppable pace on their race to achieve the finish line successfully.

Works Cited Deng, Chao. “China’s Cutthroat School System leads to Teen Suicides”,The Wall Street Journal, May 15,2014 <https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/ 2014/05/15/chinas-cutthrout-school-systemleads-to-teen-suicides/> “Problems at School”, Association for Children’s Mental Health <http://www.acmh-mi.org/get-help/ navigating/problems-at-school/> “School-Based Mental Health Services: Improving Student Learning and Well-Being” National Association of School Psychologist, <https://www.nasponline.org/resources-andpublications/resources/mental-health/schoolpsychology-and-mental-health/school-basedmental-health-services>

Now How Do You Think? By: Dylan McSweeney 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life are lost (YPLL) each year. It is the most commonly used addictive substance in U.S. by over 17.6 million people. Over 111 million driving accidents are related to it. 40% of hospital beds used for treatment related to it. The 3rd leading lifestyle related death in the nation. Marijuana? No, alcohol. Many states are debating over this topic, so far there are eight states in the U.S. that has marijuana legalized for recreational use. States have been debating this for a long time now (“State Marijuana Laws in 2018 Map”). Many people feel very strongly that it should be legal, but many people also think it should be illegal and this is why those people who think it should be illegal are wrong. Marijuana should be legalized for so many reasons, among them, it is physically impossible to overdose from marijuana, it helps cancer patients and other

Marijuana has many street names such as: weed, ganja, herb, cannabis, pot, kush, grass, marry jane, skunk and many more. But what is marijuana? Marijuana is a naturally grown plant that can be grown inside or outside. The main nutrient in the flower is called delta-9tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Another nutrient in the plant is called cannabidiol, or CBD. Depending on the strain or category, there can be more or less THC and CBD in the buds (flower). However, the THC in the plant is what causes the ‘high’, not the CBD. CBD can be extracted from the plant and put into oils. While CBD has been legal for a while, and helps relieve pain, helps with sleeping problems, helps fight cancer, helps with anxiety, helps with depression, lowers incidence of diabetes and over fifty other benefits, it’s partner, THC is not legal in many states (“State Marijuana Laws in 2018 Map”). CBD and THC are both in the same flower and both help with many

Now How Do You Think? It is not only the CBD Alcohol”). If marijuana which has benefits, so does the was legal, there would not be THC. A way to look at THC these deaths because it is not and CBD is that CBD helps possible to overdose on it. If it with many problems, but THC was used for recreational use, helps those problems even people could choose it over more. THC will help with pain alcohol and these overdoses more than the CBD will. THC would not happen. Marijuana will help cancer patients is also a great way to help sick because it will give them an patients (“The Cannabist”). appetite and they will eat when Most cancer patients normally they have no appetite and other sick patients take to eat at all (“CBD very Benefits”). Many dangerous illegal substances “No deaths from overdose and addictive such as opiates opiate pain of marijuana have ever and alcohol you relievers, can overdose on, such as been reported” but there is one fentanyl, substance you can never overdose on. There has hydromorphone, methadone, NEVER been an overdose of morphine, oxycodone, and marijuana. The DEA states in tramadol. Every day over 115 2017 in the resources guide Americans die from opiate Drugs of Abuse, “No deaths overdoses and one of the main from overdose of marijuana ways they get addicted to these have ever been reported”(“The drugs is because they were Cannabist”). Just this fact that prescribed it by their doctor to there has never been an relieve pain. If the patients overdose with cannabis means were prescribed marijuana as a that it is demonstrably safer painkiller, which is proven to than liquor which causes help with pain according to the approximately six-eight deaths

Now How Do You Think? the alcohol drinking age is twenty-one years old, in the U.S.A. the states that do have marijuana legal it is also 21. There has been research that says there is no harm done to the brain when smoking or eating cannabis (“Benefits of Cannabis THC | Medical & Recreational Marijuana News & Articles”). Alcohol has many bad effects on individuals such as high blood pressure, stroke, other heart related diseases, liver disease, sexual problems, nerve damage, and many more. Why would a substance that gives you so many problems be legal and one that gives you no problems be illegal? “The study, headed by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Rutgers University, offers the lifestyle-affirming conclusion that "chronic marijuana use by teenage boys and girls does not appear to be linked to later physical or mental health issues such as depression, psychotic symptoms, or asthma” (“New Study on

Smoking Weed”). This new study shows that it does not affect you in a negative way. If alcohol has so many more bad effects to you over marijuana, alcohol should not be legal. One of the main cause of teenage death’s is related to alcohol, according to Drinkaware (“Health Effects of Alcohol”). If marijuana is not causing these teenage deaths, alcohol is, then why would it be legal over marijuana? Critics will argue marijuana does not have an acceptable medical use and that it is bad for your health, but what they don’t realize is that alcohol has absolutely zero health benefits, and can not help sick people in anyway but marijuana will help sick patients feel better and has less harm done to your body than alcohol. People always say pot smokers will not be successful, but the greatest writer of all time, William Shakespeare smoked marijuana. Many of his pipes tested positive for cannabis residue (Farmington). If a man that successful

Now How Do You Think? smoked marijuana, then it is not true that people can not be successful if they smoke it. If marijuana were to be legal, we could save innocent arrest. People get arrested for having marijuana (when caught by police), and it shows up on their record when they shouldn’t get that arrest for only using marijuana. Marijuana makes you calm so they wouldn’t be aggressive and if twenty-one, they aren’t doing harm to their bodies so they should not have this on their record. Many Americans wonder why a plant with so many benefits is illegal but alcohol, which is so harmful, is legal. Alcohol should have never been legalized over marijuana. More and more families are losing loved ones over alcohol related accidents. Marijuana is not killing people, the only thing that is causing deaths from marijuana is people taking actions too far to prevent it’s legalization.

Works Cited “Benefits of Cannabis THC | Medical & Recreational Marijuana News & Articles.” AllBud, AllBud, 24 Oct. 2017, “CBD Benefits.” Dr. Axe, 2 June 2017, Draxe cbd benefits. Cowen, Trace. “New Study On Smoking Weed.” Complex, Complex, 26 June 2017 Farmington, Todd. “10 Fun Facts About Weed You Might Not Know.” HERB, 2 Nov. 2017 “Health Effects of Alcohol.” Health Effects of Alcohol | Drinkaware, 2 July 2017 “Marijuana and Cancer.” American Cancer Society, 2017 Network, The Cannabist. “Even the DEA Says Nobody Has Ever Died of a Marijuana Overdose.” The Cannabist, 12 July 2017

Now How Do You Think? “State Marijuana Laws in 2018 Map.” Governing Magazine: State and Local Government News for America's Leaders

Minimum Legal Drinking Age at 18 By Ivo Reppen Wartiainen

Join the military, be a stripper, get married, smoke cigarettes, purchase a vehicle, house, or apartment, and pawn all your belongings. What do all of these things have in common? These are things that one can do at the age of adulthood. What can you not do at 18 then, well, you cannot drink alcohol. Why should anyone be allowed to drink alcohol when it is the most consumed drug in the in the United States. 88, 000 deaths annually are caused by overuse of alcohol. Death is not the only problem caused by alcohol; “more than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking, and more than 7 million children live in a household where at least one parent is dependent on or has abused alcohol.”(“Facts About Alcohol”). Why is it legal then? Why do we allow it to be socially accepted? Alcohol has been around for a very long time, domestic dogs have been with humanas as long as alcohol; an alcoholic drink in China has been traced back to 7 000 B.C.(“Alcohol: a short history”).

It has been popular in all sorts of cultures all around the world for ages. The Industrial Revolution was a great expander of alcohol, too; we caused alcohol to reach places where it never had been seen before. When the US then started to move towards moderate drinking in late 19th Century/early 20th Century, it was already too late. We started doing studies on the eﬀects of alcohol and found some horrific facts, but as stated before, we were too late... 9 000 years too late. The experiments and movements lead to the ban of alcohol in the US: “the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution– which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition”(“Prohibition”). The law was a total catastrophe; it lead to illegal production, exchange, and drinking which later led to an increase of gang violence and other crimes. In 1933 the 18th Amendment was ratified. All of this did not leave without a trace tough, new restrictions and laws associated with drinking had been set such as the legal drinking age. In the US the legal drinking age is at 21, which is very unique because most countries allow it at 18 years old or younger. It has always been a discussion if the 21 years limit should stay or if it should be lowered. Some say that lowering the drinking age would cause more drunk driving accidents, others say that not lowering it would encourage binge drinking. The minimum legal drinking age in America should be lowered, but with some restrictions.

It does not make sense that a person considered as an adult should not be able to drink but can make other major life decisions, it creates safer drinking and decreases underage, unsafe binge drinking, and having the consumption of alcohol legal at 21 is very ineﬀective since teenagers still consume a large amount of alcohol.

It does not make sense that the US have the legal drinking age at 21, why not 25 or 30, when our brains are fully developed(“Understanding the Teen Brain”). Many people use the argument against lowering the drinking age to the age of 18 by saying that we are more wise or careful when we are 21 instead of 18. The reason why people are more wise and careful at 21 is because they have more experience. When people have experienced similar events before, they know how to act. Why can't we change that? Why can't we bring these experiences closer to teenagers, so they'll make smarter decisions early on in life? Its not that we should let our children regularly and irresponsibly drink at 16, but we should introduce teenagers early to alcohol with small doses, like a sip at dinner, teach them about the assortment available, and what eﬀects it has on the body. In a lot of countries with a lower drinking age, parents let their kids drink with them at dinner; “though the per capita consumption of alcohol in France, Spain and Portugal is higher than in the United States, the rate of alcoholism and alcohol abuse is lower”(“Perils of Prohibition: Why We Should Lower the Drinking Age to 18”). This would be done at home but larger seminars or lectures could be held at school. We teach about safe sex and illegal drugs at school very regularly, but we never learn in school what alcohol does to the body and how one should drink responsibly.

We do not even have to spend a lot of time making people more responsible when they drink if we change the legal age to 18. Some consequences will come almost immediately. It would create more space for safe drinking so that young teenagers wont drink on the streets or other unsafe places. The majority of drinking happen at bars, clubs or other similar places where there are guards and people controlling the place. The age of entrance for most of these places is 21. That means that when teenagers drink they either have to get fake ID’s, which MLDA(minimum legal drinking age) 18 would work against, or drink at public places such as parks or similar hangouts. If lucky they could stay at someone's house. By lowering to the age of 18, it would mean that a lot of places like bars would lower the age of entrance creating space for younger people.In addition the college activity ‘binge drinking’ would decrease as an eﬀect of MLDA 18. Many people feel the need to buy a lot of alcohol when they have the chance; therefore, it often becomes an overflow of alcoholic beverages(at parties or similar events), which results in binge drinking. Because one can not drink in public, people drink a lot of alcohol before they go out. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would creates safe places, work against fake ID’s and binge drinking. So the argument many people use, “it would create irresponsible and unsafe drinking,” does not hold up.

Something that also does not hold up is the United States preventation of underaged drinking. According to National Center on Addiction and Substance “abuse underage drinking accounts for 17.5% ($22.5 billion) of consumer spending for alcohol in the United States. In 2006, 72.2% of twelfth graders reported drinking alcohol at some point in their lives”(“Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?”). We could even go one step further with this information, if it is true, let's see the percentage of people causing these numbers. Let's say that people who drink underaged are people from 10 -20 years old(which is an overestimation), that is roughly 15% of the population in the US(“So How Many Millennials Are There in the US, Anyway? (Updated)”). This overestimation says that 15% of the population(underaged) in the US stands for ‘17.5%’ of all spendings on alcohol.That is a terrible number. According to IQ.se(which is connected with “systembolaget,” which is the monopoly of alcohol in Sweden) only 40% of people aged 16-17, in Sweden(where the drinking age is 18), have come in contact with alcohol at any time in their life(“Alkohol och ungdomar”). In the US 72.2% of twelfth graders have ‘reported drinking alcohol at some point in their lives.’ In this situation young people in the US know that they are going to drink alcohol underaged anyway because the legal drinking age is so high, so instead of waiting until they are 21, they drink even earlier. This is just a theory, but there is no denying that underage drinking is popular in the US; almost everyone does it.

So we understand that banning alcohol will probably never happen again in the immediate future and it will probably not happen ever again since it is such a big part of our society, culture, and history. This leads to the conclusion that the legal drinking age should be 18 years old, why? Because eighteen year olds are adults, because it creates safe places, because it slows down illegal activities, because it works against fake ID’s and binge drinking. It is not all perfect though. Making alcohol consumption legal at 18 would create real problems, problems that might not have a solution. If it gets lowered to 18 years of age, we have to make some restrictions. For example the fact that MLDA 21 reduces traﬃc accidents connected with alcohol could be dealt with with MLDA 18. There could be a law forbidding 18-21 year old from having any alcohol in their blood while driving. America could make it harder to get a drivers license, and base their education a lot on drunk driving. There could be a law that only allowed 18-21 year olds to drink alcoholic beverages under a certain percent, for example 15%. This would probably help teenagers make smarter decisions about what they choose. Another way to solve problems could be by doing like Sweden. Make alcohol a monopoly, so that their would only be one big company selling alcohol. They could control what they sell, what people buy, and other estimations that would help the society. This could also cause some problems in the American society since there is a really strong belief that everything should be capitalistic, it would also decrease the assortment. There are a lot more solutions to new problems than we think there are, and lowering the drinking age to 18 would be beneficial for the US.

Works Cited

“Alcohol: a short history.” http:// www.drugfreeworld.org. Foundation for a drug free world. Web. 11 February 2018.

“Alkohol och ungdomar.” www.iq.se. IQ SE. Web. 11 February 2018.

Cary, Kate, Mary.”Time to Lower the Drinking Age.” www.usnews.com. US News. 7 May 2014.

Web. 2 February 2018.

Dr. Whelan. “Perils of Prohibition: Why We Should Lower the Drinking Age to 18.”

www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org. Alcohol Problems and Solutions. 25 May 1995. Web. 2 February 2018.

“Facts About Alcohol.” www.ncadd.org. NCADD, 25 July 2015. Web. 11 February 2018.

“Prohibition.” www.history.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 11 February 2018.

“Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?” drinkingage.procon.org.

PROCON.org. 2 January 2018. Web. 2 February 2018.

“So How Many Millennials Are There in the US, Anyway? (Updated).”

www.marketingcharts.com.Marketing charts. 15 May 2017. Web. 11 February 2018.

“Understanding the Teen Brain.” www.urmc.rochester.edu. University of Rochester Medical

Center. Web. 11 February 2018.

School Dress Codes By: Sarah Everett

In 2014, The National Center for Education “Proponents of school dress codes Statistics (NCES) stated that around 20 argue that the restrictions increase percent of American public schools required school safety by banning clothing their students to wear a uniform or have a strict dress code for students (“School associated with violence, and allow the Dress Code”). Though that might not sound students to learn without unnecessary like a big number, students do not feel that distractions from provocative or they have the freedom of expression when offensive clothing. They also argue they have a strict dress code or uniform. that requiring students to adhere to Some might say that without a dress code certain standards of attire prepares or school uniform, it could cause them for the transition from school to distractions, or students will not look decent in their clothing options, work” (“School Dress but the downside to Codes”). Some feel that “Proponents of school dress codes having a uniform could having a strict dress argue that the restrictions increase cause families to spend code will increase the school safety by banning clothing money on uniforms that safety of the school and they can’t afford for their associated with violence, and allow the students, and with a children. Having a dress students to learn without unnecessary distractions from provocative or strict dress code, the code can allow students offensive clothing. They also argue that to have freedom to wear students won’t be requiring students to adhere to certain what they want, females distracted in class. The standards of attire prepares them for won’t have a daily students have the the transition from school to struggle of choosing freedom to wear what work” (“School Dress Codes”) what to wear, and they want, even though without a school uniform the students might be it can allow them to be wearing violent able to wear what they choose. clothing, they are

Students have fought having a dress codes since the 1960’s. There has been protests against having a dress code for students and that the students should be able to freely wear what they chose. Principles also argue that having a dress code will help with the safety of the school and the students.

wearing what they want. Punishing all students by enforcing a dress code is something that is unnecessary to the students that aren’t wearing violent clothing. Not having a dress code could cause distractions, but the students should have an option if they want to look decent in what they are wearing.

School Dress Codes By: Sarah Everett

Not having a dress code can cause They also struggle with being able to students to look indecent, but some wear jegging or leggings to school. dress codes imply that clothes cannot They should be able to wear jeggings be too revealing or that male students with something covering them because must tuck in their shirts. (“School Dress it’s similar to wearing a dress with Codes”). Female students struggle more tights under them. “School dress codes with having a dress code than men do. may also dictate that a student cannot “A typical restriction requires that shorts, expose his or her midriff or cleavage in skirts, or dresses worn by female any way, a rule that disproportionately students meet or exceed a minimum affects female students. length, often Likewise, restrictions determined by the “A typical restriction requires that against exposed “fingertip rule,” which undergarments, dictates that clothing shorts, skirts, or dresses worn by particularly bra straps, must be long enough female students meet or exceed have been viewed as to extend past the a minimum length, often student’s longest determined by the “fingertip rule,” targeting female students finger when standing which dictates that clothing must specifically” (“School straight with her arms be long enough to extend past Dress Codes”). Also, at her side” (“School the student’s longest finger when cleavage for females Dress Codes”). standing straight with her arms at shouldn’t be apart of a Female students have her side” (“School Dress Codes”) dress code to a certain a harder struggle with extent. Though not dress code because having a dress code of what is expected has lead to sexual harassment or from them. They are required to have bullying in the classrooms, students the “fingertip rule” and always make are choosing to wear that and should sure that their dresses or skirts aren’t be thinking of what might be caused of too short. “As leggings or “jeggings” it. Having a dress code isn’t have gained popularity among girls, necessarily difficult as having a school those items have increasingly become uniform but some might argue that it's the subject of scrutiny, from dress codes just as difficult. requiring that shirts cover the leggings by falling to the tips of the fingers to outright bans” (“School Dress Codes”).

School Dress Codes By: Sarah Everett

School uniforms is topic of discussion Having a uniform may reduce the for most schools and is difficult for cost of a buying regular clothing, but students that have them. School wearing the same outfit and being uniforms are difficult because of the uncomfortable during the school cost, but there are economic benefits day is something that students of a uniform. It heavily depends on shouldn’t have to deal with. Some the policy the uniform has in place. families can’t afford to pay for their Students feel that having a school children to go to school and buy uniform can take away from their them a uniform. Also if the child individuality and make them look loses it or ruins it they unflattering and are going have to pay make them feel “Uniform prices and the number of for another uniform. uncomfortable. Cost vendors where uniforms can be purchased vary from school to school. School uniforms of uniforms can be A 2013 study by Land’s End School should be optional for expensive for Uniform and the National Association students and should families and of Elementary School Principals not be required. (NAESP) found that 77 percent of students don’t want principals and other school leaders School dress codes them. “Uniform estimated the cost of their children’s and school uniforms prices and the uniforms to be no more than $150 a can be optional for number of vendors year.” (“School Uniforms”). students and where uniforms can shouldn’t be required. be purchased vary Even though it can from school to lead to distractions or school. A 2013 study students not look decent, students by Land’s End School Uniform and should be able to wear what they the National Association of like and not have to follow a dress Elementary School Principals code. The students have freedom of (NAESP) found that 77 percent of expression and should be able to principals and other school leaders not have a dress code. estimated the cost of their children’s uniforms to be no more than $150 a year.” (“School Uniforms”).

If anything it is going to make it worse. Police were polled and asked if they think the death penalty significantly reduces homicides and only 37% said yes.(Dieter). “Fifty-Seven percent (57%) agreed: The death penalty does little to prevent violent crimes”(Dieter). When criminals commit a crime, most of the time they aren't going to be thinking of the consequence. The death penalty is not going to be on their mind 24/7 while they are commiting a terrible crime, and that is one of the reasons why the death penalty is an ineﬀective way to reduce crime. As indicated by the polls, most of our law enforcement don't have trust or believe in the death penalty, and that is a big reason why we need a change. It is a ineﬀective and immoral way to try and get rid of crime.We must find a solution if we are going to abolish the death penalty and a solution is life imprisonment without parole(Williams). “As a society we are obligated to do better than to respond with a gut primal response, regardless of how natural that response may feel”(Williams). As citizens of the United States we should be better. We shouldn’t kill the person because it feels like it is the “right” punishment. People can also change. If an individual is in prison for forty-five plus years, that can change his or her whole perspective on life. Furthermore we must get a better reform program. We need to help the individuals that have committed these crimes because most of them have mental problems and maybe they could join the community and have a second chance because people can change.Another

Why We Need To Kill The Death Penalty

This could also be a possibility. We will save millions of dollars and maybe we also have a changed human being. People can change. We just have to give them the opportunity to change. Change requires time, but it can happen. Many people have different opinions of the death penalty and how we should act on it.The main argument for people who agree with the death penalty is but he killed so many people, why does he deserve to live. I agree if an individual killed a lot of people he deserves to go to a bad place, but how can we say that we are going to kill him to show that killing people is wrong? The argument is false and contradicting. If he killed lots of people, he deserves to go to jail for a long time but there are better ways so make people suffer or try and help them to get better than giving them the death penalty. The main argument for people who agree with the death penalty is but he killed so many people, why does he deserve to live. I agree if an individual killed a lot of people he deserves to go to a bad place, but how can we say that we are going to kill him to show that killing people is wrong? The argument is false and contradicting. If he killed lots of people, he deserves to go to jail for a long time but there are better ways so make people suffer or try and help them to get better than giving them the death penalty. The death penalty is a very important topic. We are spending millions of dollars a year on it(Dieter). It is not reducing the crime in the US and it is not acting as a deterrent towards any criminals.We must find a different option instead of the death penalty. We have many different options we can pick and who says we can't pick more than one of them, but we need change and we need it soon.

Did you know that there have been multiple cases where people have received the death penalty then later they were found innocent? Did you know that the death penalty cost 1.26 million dollars per case(“Costs of the Death Penalty”). Some people believe in an eye for an eye. Which means if they killed someone they deserve to be killed. However, morally how is it right for us to kill a person for killing someone? The death penalty costs way too much money to keep using. We could use the money we save by getting rid of the death penalty for good purposes like roads or new buildings. It is not an eﬀective way to get rid of crime or even reduce it. We can find more eﬀective ways to prevent criminals from committing horrible crimes. It is not morally right for us to kill people. Even if an individual committed a horrible crime, life in prison without parole is much better and costs less money.

One of the biggest reasons countries are getting rid of the death penalty is because it cost so much money. The amount of money the country spends on the death penalty cases a year is outrageous. If we abolished the death penalty, we could use the money we save and invest the money back in the country. We could put it towards new roads or buildings. “The same states that are spending millions of dollars on the death penalty are facing severe cutbacks in other justice areas.

Why We Need To Kill The Death Penalty

Courts are open less, trials are being delayed, and even police are being furloughed”(Dieter). The states that do have the death penalty are being aﬀected directly. Due to the amount of money taxpayers are forced to spend, many people are losing jobs. In fact “The excess expenditures per year for the death penalty typically are close to 10 million per state”(Dieter). If an average teacher makes 40,000 dollars per year, the money saved from getting rid of the death penalty could go back to 250 of the teachers. This could result in a better community and happier teachers which also means better education(Dieter). Having a better education might also prevent more of the crimes that lead to the death penalty. The amount of money spent on the death penalty is way too much.“Capital punishment uses enormous resources on a few cases with little to show”(Dieter). As you can see people are not happy with the cost of the death penalty, and it is also not reducing any crime. The main reason the death penalty is around is because it is supposed to reduce crime and scare criminals into thinking they should not commit the crime because they might get the death penalty. However this is not the case: “88% of the country's top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide”(Dieter). Even the top criminologists in the world don't believe that the death penalty has any eﬀect on murderers committing terrible crimes. We must find a way to prevent the terrible acts from happening, but the death penalty is not going to be the way to stop it.

“It is not an eﬀective way to get rid of

crime or even reduce it.”

Why We Need To Kill The Death Penalty

Works Cited

Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "Life Imprisonment Is Preferable to the

Death Penalty." Capital Punishment, edited by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press,

2005. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ EJ3010036264/OVIC? u=heb76203&xid=2dc31d8d.

Accessed 11 Feb. 2018. Originally published as "Alternatives to the Death Penalty,", 2004.

“Costs of the Death Penalty.” Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center,

deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-deathpenalty.

Dieter, Richard C. "Capital Punishment Is Too Expensive to Retain." The Ethics of Capital

Punishment, edited by Christine Watkins, Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context, http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc Accessed 11 Feb. 2018. Originally published as "Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the

The Blind Eye—Internet block in China should be lefted Remember what lead Dynasty Qing to destruction ? The unenlightened, impuissant and pitiful government. They secluded the country from the outside world, and that caused the civilians to become ignorance and inexperienced, and that mainly caused the country's international standing significantly into a bottomless chasm. Now the Chinese civilians are facing a similarly dramatic problem caused by their government, the digital internet limits in China. The people still live in a drum, kept in the dark because of it. The Chinese communists still think they are doing a great job. They can lie to themselves, but they can’t lie to the enlightened people. The things the Chinese government is doing right now around the country will lead the country to become the second Dynasty Qing, and that means the country will doomed. So, the digital limits need to be lift, because the government is too powerful, it control too much things, and it will make people missed so much things and become ignorance.

Since the internet activated in China around late 20th century(Jaime A. FlorCruz and Lucrezia Seu, CNN“From snail mail to 4G, China celebrates 20 years of Internet connectivity Wed April 23, 2014 ”. People who lives in China always have the technical issues to contact with the people that are outside the country until now. That’s because the special program runned in the country called “ The Chinese specialized internet using management” That literally censured hundreds of the useful and great websites banned in People Republic of China Like Google, Facebook,Youtube, Yahoo... Those websites are like foundation of the world internet, but Chinese people cannot access to it, and the reason that why the Chinese government banned those useful tools is very simple. Just because the headquarter of the Chinese communists consider the negative news about their policies, even though they are truth. They do not care how inconvenient it will be for the people, they just want to protect their political power. Some platforms that are same as those websites are rising up in the country, like the Chinese browser “Baidu”, the specialized chat program “Wechat” and “QQ”. At least people still can use the internet, but another problem is, nobody around the world would willing to try to use those program or applications. Chinese people need to use VPN, a special program to avoid the “Great Firewall” (“The ‘Great

The Blind Eye—Internet block in China should be lefted The problem is not only the contact issues. If the country obscured too much things and blind the civilians, the country could fall easily. like Dynasty Qing. Around 1850,(“Cixi: The Woman Behind the Throne”www.smithsonianmag.c om ) the monarch of Qing, Ci Xi. She isolated the country since she took over the power from hers son. She secluded the country from the outside world, forbid communication with foreign people. That dramatically caused the country to fall behind others. She didn’t care, She just enjoyed a lot of amusement and enjoyed hers life. The first time She saw a car was so funny. When she saw the car could run so fast, she stated “ Running at this speed, it need

to eat tons of grass right?”(“Ci Xi first saw the car and said 13 words exposed Qing perish”) It’s just so shameful and ignorance and this is what happened if the country isolate itself from outside world. Another interesting thing is that after the nuclear drop on Hiroshima, the government of militarism Japan were tell the civilians and soldiers that Hiroshima was destroyed

Any authoritarianism will lead the country to fall. It’s a huge mistake that this format of government still exist in the modern world. The main reason the Chinese government made the digital limits it’s because they want to control people’s idea and make it more convenient to manage people. Then the leader could feel cheerful but the people don’t. For example, they don’t want to let civilians know that their “hero” Chairman Mao killed forty-five millions people in just four years.(“ Mao's Great Leap Forward 'killed 45 million in four years” Friday 17 September 2010 10:23 BST) Probably people live in China could never know about this. People need to know truth, not just a one-sided deception. Even the Chinese government made those unadvisable rules, it’s still some people are support the “Great Firewall” which is the program killed internet in China.

The Blind Eye—Internet block in China should be lefted Some might argue that the reason why the Chinese government limit its citizens access to the internet is because they don’t want the foreign journalism or articles to bewitch people’s ideas. Then other countries could destroyed China from popular feelings. Those people state that the Chinese government wants people to be safe, and the limits of internet is beneficial for people to prevent harmful things. But what they fail to see is that isolating internet from other countries is like abandon a person’s eyes. Here is a real situation in China, that is a lot of people’s mind are influenced by theirs government, their mind are derail from the outside world. Because China develop so fast, just taking about twenty years to become the second big economic entity in the world, people seems aren’t ready for it, it’s because of the disadvantage of the country’s group thoughts . If they could learn more truth, not those one-side lies, the development of China could increase to another level. Because the limits of the internet, and the special policy , people could never know a thing from a best perspective. And, Don’t tell me that the reason caused the huge massacre in front of the Tiananmen Square in 1989 is only because the foreign journalism.when peoples fury attached that line, the consequences will be remarkable.

The twenty-one century almost passed twenty years. The most powerful things appeared in this era is the Internet. Right now the eﬀect of the internet is like the eye of a human, it could lighten a person, make a person alive. If it is covered, the person will be blind, and that is same as the internet; if the connection is cut, society drop into the dark. like the people lives in

China.

In conclusion. cut the vision of internet is just like deprive the eyes from a person. What should Chinese government to do is make the people’s mind back to the right orbital. Let them contact with foreign people, let the country becomes talk free. Showing bad stuﬀ of the country is not that harmful as you think. Give people more freedom, much easier to get the popular feelings. If they keep doing this, the country will redundant the same mistake twice, and that’s not the government or civilians want. I admit it, none of other country develop rapidly like China during the past century.

The Blind Eye—Internet block in China should be lefted

Work cited

“Ci Xi first saw the car and said 13 words exposed Qing perish” 2017-08-04 14:20:30 . 11.Feb.2018 http:// www.chaofanzhuan.net/automobile/14200.html

Wayne Duggan, “9 Most Popular Mobile Apps In China”March 11, 2017, 13.Feb 2018 https://www.benzinga.com/general/ education/17/03/9159381/9-most-popular-mobile-apps-in-china

Brendan O'Neill, “Both China and the West have distorted the truth about the Tiananmen Square protests and the massacre that followed”. TheWeek, Jun 3, 2009,13.Feb 2018 http:// www.theweek.co.uk/politics/22535/both-china-and-west-havedistorted-truth-about-tiananmen-square-protests-and-massacre

Dress For Success: No Longer Only An Interview Tactic by Helene Neujean ’20 I recently listened to a conversation between a teacher and a student at the beginning of class. This argument concerned the outfit of my classmate that the teacher classified as inappropriate. She thought that that the skirt was too short and the blouse had too plunging a neckline. On the other hand the student didn’t see a problem. To avoid such conversations and arguments, every school should introduce school uniforms to the school system in order to clarify the clothing problem even if people argue that students should wear whatever they like. A uniform consists of skirts and white, collared blouses for girls and blazers with ties and black shoes for boys. School uniforms keep students focused on their education instead of their clothes, create a sense of community and school pride and improve attendance and discipline student-wide.

Uniforms keep students focused on their education more than their clothes. After school uniforms were introduced, language test scores of elementary school girls increased as a study by the University of Houston analysed (“Top Pro and Con Arguments”). This incident can be explained by the fact that the focus is taken off the clothing choices and opens up the possibility of spending more time on schoolwork. Further, distraction is reduced that normal school clothing is offering. To quote form a bulletin published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals: ”When all students are wearing the same outfit, they are less concerned about how they look and how they fit in with their peers; thus they can concentrate on their schoolwork“ (“Top Pro and Con Arguments”). Students and teacher would profit from the positive outcome in the form of better grades due to greater time spent on school matters. Additionally, school uniforms contribute to a sense of belonging together as students and create a feeling of pride towards the whole school body.

By mandating all students wear the same Discipline referrals dropped by 74%; from outfit, a sense of community and school 1565 during the first semester of the pride is created. One thousand Texas previous year to 405 in the following middle school students were part of a (“Top Pro and Cons study whose results “reported significantly Arguments”).Arguments about eventual more positive perceptions of belonging in inappropriate clothing can be solved more their school community than reported by easily and save valuable class time. students in the standard dress group (“Top Students pay better attention and a calm Pro and Con Arguments”)”. It helps learning environment supports the troubled students to feel more welcome by argument of an discipline improvement. being part of a group, which unique selling A common argument raised against school point is represented by the uniforms. Also, uniforms is that they are too expensive and the sense of belonging and appreciate the burden the expenses of parents. In fact, school is increasingly pronounced notes school uniforms save money and are less researches from Oxford Brookes expensive than normal clothes. When the University in the UK, who discovered that kids are limited to one “school uniforms single outfit every day, often directly "Discipline referrals dropped by parents don't pay for contributed to a normal clothing that is 74%; from 1565 during the first feeling of school expected to be pride(“Top Pro and semester of the previous year to different everyday and 405 in the following" Con is influenced by Arguments”)”. necessary changes Students identify themselves more easily depending on the current style and season. with their schools through the uniforms, A study in the UK compared those two which also enables people, that are not part expenses and observed that the average of the school body to recognise students school uniform costs about $128.79 in from the same school more easily. comparison to an out-of-school Besides that school uniforms outfit, which price averaged increase the school pride and $165.79 (“Top Pro and sense of community, they Cons Argument“). If one also contribute to the can’t afford two sets, it‘s behaviour of students. sufficient to buy one, School uniforms improve which can as an attendance and discipline as alternative easily be the example of a 7% drop purchased for a lot less of the average absence rate money from the uniform for girls in middle and high seller “French Toast“, that school proves. This fact was guarantees cheap and found out by researchers at affordable attire for about the University of Houston $45 (“Top Pro and Con Arguments“). (“Top Pro and Con Arguments”). The introduction of a mandatory uniform program at John Adams Middle School in Albuquerque showed success.

Next to this, parents may feel compared to other families and pressured by the fact of keeping up with their children’s classmate‘s parents in order to buy trendy and fashionable clothes for their kids. Thus, school uniforms reduce the tension between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. As normal clothing creates a distraction from academics, makes it harder to create a sense of community, and does not contribute to students’ improvement in academic performances, attendance, or discipline compared to school uniforms, uniforms should be introduced to the school system. A solution for parents and students, who dislike the idea of a school uniform in general can be given by making them more casual. If implementing uniforms requires too much of the community, a dress code would be a compromise (Kennedy), alternatively the option of making uniforms more casual would be another agreement everyone would assent to (Kelly). Students would be able to wear certain things, but limited in the length of skirts, prints on shirts and pants choice. Moreover, accessoires can be added to a school uniform in order to allow students an outlet for their own expression (Kelly). Being dressed more properly gives school a formal appearance and makes an event out of it, which needs to be taken more seriously. The argument between the teacher and the student from the beginning of this essay could have been solved more easily; in fact, the argument would not have existed in the first place, if students are required to wear school uniforms.

Works Cited: Kennedy, Robert. “Private School Uniforms and Dress Codes.“ ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo.com; May 10, 2017. Web. 02.02.18 <https://www.thoughtco.com/private-school-uniforms-and-dresscodes-2774037> Kelly, Melissa. “Pros and Cons of School Uniforms.“ ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo.com; March 9, 2017. Web. 02.02.18 <https://www.thoughtco.com/pros-and-cons-of-school-uniforms-6760> “Top Pro & Con Arguments.“ ProCon.org ProCon.org; November 15, 2017. Web. 02.02.18 <https://school-uniforms.procon.org/>

SAT is not a necessity

By:Aarti Singh

Sitting in a classroom for three hours is not an easy job. It’s even harder to concentrate and solve problems in a limited amount of time. With a test as long as seven pages, it’s difficult for many students to give their best. For many years SAT and other standardized tests have played a significant role in college admissions. Throughout these years, they are now amongst the most important criteria to get into a good college. Let’s get this straight, are SATS worth the time and effort? Should standardized tests be considered amongst the important criteria for admissions? Should students be sad if they score less? Do these tests prove anything? Kids should know that one test can not determine their future. SATs are not worth the time and efforts the students put in nowadays and SAT’s make it difficult for the high school students to try for colleges outside their comfort zone

People believe that getting high score on SAT’s can make their college process as smooth as butter but, it’s not just one test that can bring your acceptance letter home but all of your high school history too. “Classroom work, writing, and intellectual exploration are more important indicators of success. High school students should be spending time and energy on- not prepping for a test”(McDermott). There are so many other things a student should be proud of, which include athletics, leadership and a lot more. One test can crush a students confidence and can result in not applying for the colleges they once thought they deserved to attend. Almost 63% of high school students are not happy with their scores: “In April 2005, I was startled this spring when I found it diﬃcult to convince my own daughter, who was disappointed in her SAT scores, that her future is decided on the basis of one test.

“Kids should know that one test can not determine their future”.

She nodded, but I could see that all she was thinking was that number.” (McDermott). Many acknowledge Standardized tests do not accurately reflect a students academic capability, and a poor score could discouraged qualified student from applying. There are plenty of high school students who have dropped the idea of applying to their dream college because of a low score or a score they dont want. Having a bad grade in one of the classes is not as heartbreaking as getting low scores in SAT/ACT. There is a huge competition outside our small classroom. Getting low scores on these tests can make the student feel less prepared for the competition. There are colleges who judge the students capability by their SAT score instead of looking into their school grades, and this is not right. Judging a student on the basis of one test is the same as judging a book by its cover.

There is no perfect college admissions test, and lately many people have begun to believe there’s not even a good one. Critics of testing claim that high school curricular performance is the best predictor of later success: “Grades do matter, and they should play a central role in admissions decisions” (“Getting Rid of SAT and ACT testing is a mistake”). Few colleges have optional testing which allows them to get more students from all around the world, but is it because they care about the students or their reputation? “Few institutions have implemented a test-optional policy simply because it means greater national status for their college- not necessarily because it's in the best interest of students” (Caperton). This policy improved the national status of the college with more and more admissions from diverse students. Getting a huge number of new students from all over the world improves the reputation of the college.

It’s true that standardized college admissions tests have been around since early 1900s. There has been much research and discussion over the use of standardized testing in college admissions. Because of the information this research has introduced, some schools no longer require the students to take or submit their SAT scores; However, there are few significant reasons which stops them from banning SAT’s. Schools claim, “Standardized testing is practical. The tests have explicit directions and are easy to administer and are time eﬃcient and easy to grade” (“Arguments for and against standardized testing in college admissions”). The process of admissions is a lot more complicated than we think.

The admission department does need something, anything to make their job easier because “No college can possibly know what an A- or B-plus means in each of the thousands of high schools their applicant attend” (“Getting Rid of SAT and ACT Testing is a Mistake”). These tests set a base idea for the admissions department to judge whether the students are ready for their future challenges which colleges will bring up for them or not. But the cost for one test is so high that not every student in the United States as well can not aﬀord it. What is wrong about this point of view is that it makes it diﬃcult for socially discriminated group who might be more deserving to find their best fit.

It’s just a test, so let’s take it as a test; nothing more than that

There are plenty of institutions that helps you prepare for the BIG TEST. There is not only a registration fees but also, if you register with an institution you have extra fees too. “Standardized testing is biased against certain groups. Standardized testing shows bias towards women and group of ethnics and socioeconomic diversity. In regards to income bias, wealthy students become more prepared for these thesis through better life experiences, such as top-quality schools and test prep tutors” (“Arguments For and Against Standardized Testing in College Admissions”). The test and the fees for its preparation are too expensive that it creates an income gap between wealthy and poor people. The institutions already have enough money but also gets millions each year because most of the colleges have mandatory standardized test.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;These tests These tests are just an easy way to lessen the complications of the admissions department and for the institutions who provide preparation and testing to gain good income. These tests cannot determine our future. They should not be given as much the attention and time we are giving right now. Moreover, they are biased and discriminatory. It is clear now that what we need to do is take away or make the standardized test optional in every college because these organizations are just trying to make the job of the administrators easy by risking the confidence and future of young students. If the students are judged by one single test, then this is time for a change.

Change for betterment.

Change for a better future.

cannot determine our future.â&#x20AC;?

Work cited.

Arguments For and Against Standardized Testing in College Admissions. 2009.

Http://ecampustors.com/for-students/collegeplanning/test-taking-SAT,-ACT,and-more/ Arguments-for-and-against-standardizedtesting-in.

McDermott, Ann. Colleges do not need SAt scores to be selective in admissions.

Standardized testing, edited by Derrida Bryfonski, Greenhaven press, 2012. At issue. Opposing viewpoints in context. Http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/Ej3010478227/ OVIC?

Caperton, Gaston. SAT scores help colleges make better decision.

Standardized Testing, edited by Derrida Bryfonski, greenhaven press

2012.http://link.galegroup.com/apps/docs/ EJ3010478226/OVIC

Editorial Board. Getting rid of SAT and ACT testing is a mistake. July 31, 2015.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theimportance-of-standardized-tests/2015/07/31/5e ba856e-36e9-11e5-9d0f-7865a67390ee_story.ht ml?utm_term=.d2183dcbd3a7

Should High School Be Our Destination for Education? By Steven Tam’20 Recently, as more students dropped out of college due to diverse aspects, the argument about ‘Should students quit colleges and go to work’ became more furious and concerned. Skipping college became more acceptable for some students. Some people considered skipping college to find a job might be more beneficial for them instead of spending times and expenses in college doing things they were not interested in. Especially for those who did not have clear minds about their undergraduate majors, they went to college just because they saw other students go and followed their streams. Furthermore, in most people’s minds, higher diploma meant a brighter future with a high-paying job, but only few graduates found an integrated job with their college majors after graduation. Students who are struggling to decide whether to go, should ask themselves do they want a better education or do they just want for fun. Paths to success are as varied as the diverse kinds of people. There are no tremendous diﬀerences between the outcome of high diploma and lower diploma; college

diploma did not help them to have obvious priorities in job market. The idea of ‘skipping college and go to work’ is bold; meanwhile, it has two-way influence. If you get prepared enough and working hard, you will have more time to figure out your best fit job category. Comparing to those who chose to study in college, the experience you gained from job is more practical than classroom learning.

First of all, students should justify whether the cost of college is worth the benefits they get for college. Some people went college on the spur of the moment, without a series of conscientious consideration. Increasingly more students go to college with no schemes and ambitions. They just wanted to finish the traditional education steps by achieving a college diploma certification. But the relative consequence is the expensive payment of four years college tuition. For example, a international student will spend $25,620 for one year to study in an American public college,(What’s the price tag for a college education) which will be a big

amount of money. Some families might not have the capability to aﬀord it without receiving adequate students aid and scholarships. All these issues bother most families. Fortunately, college life gives students a lot of free time which they could find all kinds of part-time job for both earning tuitions and filling their spare times. Once they taste the successful feeling of

making money, the impulse and greed would urge them to earn more. All they want to do is save time from school and do more jobs. After they went back from daily work, their physical tiredness result them to perform passively in school by missing classes and postponed assignments.

Then the college became a place for them to rest, not for studying. Their school performances were not worth the high tuitions they paid, so some of them dropout school. After dropout, they would get more time to work and also can save their expensive tuition. Research showed that seventy-one percentage of undergraduates who dropped out of college admitted work contributed to their decisions mostly. About a third stated they struggled with the balance to separate their vigors equally for their part-time jobs and academic loads in college: “For other major reasons for leaving, thirty one percent of undergraduates left because of aﬀordability of tuition and fees and twenty one percent of undergraduates stated because they want to take a rest from stressful working loads” (Kantrowitz) College is expensive. “With average instate tuition at a 4-year public colleges and universities for 2012-2013 costing $8,655 and out-of-state tuition at those same institutions averaging $21,706”(Trends in Higher Education) Working for jobs actually could also bring other benefits to people besides earning money.

Real experiences gain by job is more practical than classroom learning. Research showed, professions were more likely to acknowledge and endorse the “on-the-job” educations than classroom learning. For example, journalism, software engineering, and sales.(Kantrowitz).“On-the-job” education means the experiences gained through working. It is flexible and

shiftable, people required to be creative through the process. On-the-job education also improved their learning retention.

Project Management Institute’s Lead Instructional Designer

Karen Holloway said, “‘The experience helps strengthen recall of information in a way that classroom learning can’t.’When learning and daily work combined as one, employee’s mind is processing more clearly by associating the sights and sounds of the environment” Kapadia). Though classroom learning is formal, it is inflexible and strict. Most instructions are based on

the stable elements. Once emergency happened, students might not have the instant abilities to handle it. Until recently, most resources showed lawyers, architects and pharmacists still believe in learning through apprenticeship, not higher education. This idea also worked for

those entertainment artists, like Ellen Degeneres, Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

“They all found the unfitted fact of their suppostions for college. They thought making people pleased through television and music is better than learned through practice and instructions”(Sportelli). They all dropout their colleges and succeed to gain reputations in entertainment circles.

“Paths to success are just varied as the people on this planet”. Bill Gates, Microsoft founder,Who had enrolled in Harvard in 1977 but he dropped out after two years and started his amazing journey to change the way that people used computers. His company had some tough periods at first: the software was pirated by hackers, he lacked the ability to pay the bills, but he persisted his way and Microsoft is enormously successful right now. No doubts, he is successful. He is also not the only one who dropped out while being successful in his careers. His story inspired the young generations to become fearless and chaseTheir dreams. Students with big ideas are increasing incentivized to drop out. They had more times than those undergraduates to get familiar with the workplace through building their business and itemizing their ideas. Then chose their best fitted job to start their journeys. If you do not try, you will never know.

Most people believed that the high achievement ended at the commencement stage. Higher

diploma meant brighter future with high-paying job, so they went to college with paying high

cost tuitions to get university diplomas. But economists like Robert Reischauer pointed out

several years ago, “ that talented, driven kids are more likely to go to college in the first

place---that they succeed, in other words, because of their innate abilities, not because of

their formal education.’’(Forbes) In fact, more than a couple of billionaires never graduated

from college. There is plenty of evidence showed that the thing really matters is how smart

you are, not where you went to school. According to a number of studies, small diﬀerences in SAT scores would correlate with measurably higher incomes. And, according to a report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the future income of high school dropouts is directly connected with their scores on intelligence tests(Forbes).

In conclusion, the idea of ‘skipping college and go to work’ is bold. If you get prepared enough and working hard, you will have more time to figure out your best fitted job category. It would be much more beneficial than the eﬀect of a university diploma. Before making a final decision, students should seriously consider the benefits they can get from the college . college degree could not guarantee you to have a high paying job in the future, though you had to pay four years tuitions beforehand; you can learn more detailed and practical experiences from jobs rather than classroom teaching. The last one, if you do not have any ideas about going colleges. Please don’t follow the stream and burn your parent’s money for doing nothing significant in colleges.

E-books versus Hard copy books— Which will be prefer to use

Throughout the history, there are a lots of example to consult that old ways are replaced by new method. Let us take a really common example, fire. People discovered fire one million four hundred and twenty thousand years ago. A natural fire was used by human beings. However, people are not satisfied by just using the natural fire, so they found a way to create fire in seven hundred and ninety thousand years ago. Natural fire is abandoned because of the discovery of creating fire by tools. Similarly determining whether hard copy books will stay or replaced by electronic books are impossible, but I will state my claim about electronic book will be replaced book in the future. There will be several reason for that.

Technology is necessary to most people alive. To say everyone uses it is an exaggeration, but clearly people living now can’t live without technology. Reading books is also a thing that most people do during their life time. Here comes the argument of using paper book or using e-book will be better way to people. Book is in the format of paper one thousand and three hundred years ago and e-book is created no more than 25 years ago. Will the new-birth e-book replace original book in the future?

First of all, electronic book saves room and money. To manage the paper books and print will cost lots of money. Real books need to be printed a large process. Printing needs paper and ink, which cost money and human resources to create them. After printing them, books need to transfer to every library it suppose to be in. Cargo takes money. After the book being placed at library, it needs people to manage them. Managing needs money. Also, library needs to pay the rent or the fee likes electronic fee. It is all money. After the whole things being processed, it takes huge amount of money to work well but people can not ensure that every book will be sold. In the opposite, electronic book will save a lots of work. All it needs is to publishing on the platform and people pay only for the copyright of the book. That’s a huge diﬀerence (“Five E-book Trends That Will Change the Future of Publishing”).

Then, books are easily disrupted and hard to preserve unlike e-book. Although thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many copy of book, the original edition is on the computer, which is in the form of E-book. As we all know, the form of books are paper, with printing ink on it. These are the material that could easily damaged by water, cutting and tearing. What is more, books will even be damaged as the time goes by if there do not have any maintenance or good environment to keep it, but electronic books are diďŹ&#x20AC;erent. One can easily save an e-book on a device. As long as the internet exists on this earth, things will be saved. Think about it, after twenty century, what information are not putting on the document? The books need to printed by edition on computer. There is reason for this, it does a better job than original books so people are using the new

Electronic books have lots of function that a book will never can do. This is the most important reason that why books will be replaced by e-book. As a foreign language learner or a child will all benefit by the function of e-book. When someone are reading a book with the language theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re learning, there might be a lots of vocabulary that needed to be checked. For reading paper book, people have to put the book down and open phones or laptops to search the words they cannot understand. After this whole process, people could not see which line they were in so they read back some of the content they have read. That wasted a lots of time. However, if people like this are all reading books on a electronic book, all they have to do is to flick their fingers, pointing on the word. It makes things so easy to do. Also, some people has the hobby of taking notes while reading. They highlighted sentence and take note. But, after you closed the book, what will you do if you want to find that note you have taken? You have to find it. It wasted time. If you are doing this on a electronic book, you can search about what notes you have taken, all you have to do is use your finger. There are more advantage for electronic book. Moreover, If you are a crazy reader, you need a lots of space to put all your books. You have to find a book in a long time because there are a lots of them. But, if you are using electronic book, all you need is one device. Convenience is the key word in twenty century.

Books might be so classic to human, since as early as there were civilization, there were books. It seems to be books are hardly to be replace by e-book. But all it takes is time. As the time goes by, technology will be breakthrough again and again, phone might be replace by other technology in future, let alone books. To think about it overall, books always exist, it just changed to diﬀerent form once there are a better way being developed. People were drawing paint on the caves before we invented paper. It all shares the same function as book, to convey informations. In this case, once e-book’s function is being welldeveloped, paper book will be replaced.

As soon as the electronic book’s device being updated, people will find out that E-book is better than original paper books. The data shows from 2011 to 2016, the trend of the people reading printed book is decreasing (“Print and E-book Popularity, 2011-2016”). This is a representation that the importance of hard copy book is going down. Think about the advantages that e-book have, books will be replaced because of not intelligence and convenience.

Works cited

“Print and E-book Popularity, 2011-2016.” Tribune Content Agency Photos, 2016.” Tribune Content Agency Photos, 2016. Global Issue in Context, <http://link.galegroup.com/ apps/doc/ HIXJYR542969283/OVIC?u=heb76203&xid=fdf875a6>

Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

Mims, Christopher. "E-books Will Widen the Digital Divide." E-books, edited by Debra A. Miller, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, <http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010856210/GIC? u=heb76203&xid=60cc2f09>

Accessed 14 Feb.

2018.Originally published as "Will E-Books Destroy the Democratizing Eﬀects of Reading?” Technology Review, 21 Sept. 2011.

"Five E-book Trends That Will Change the Future of Publishing." link.galegroup.com Ebooks, edited by Debra A. Miller, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, <http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ EJ3010856229/GICu=heb76203&xid=85e2ee10>

Accessed 14 Feb. 2018.

The Increased Difficulty of Raising Children By Maggie Wang

In China, there are two topics—children and career which are the most attractive ones in almost every meeting, especially in family meetings. In traditional thoughts of Chinese people, education is the most useful way to change a person’s destiny. I still remember my last family meeting, my grandparents talked about their memories about how to raise my father. They said it is hard to believe that the level of education in the past twenty years has grown by leaps and bounds. My parents also acknowledged that every parent shoulders lots of pressure to raise their children to be excellent as a general definition. But my sister disagreed with the point because she thinks it is more convenient to raise children in a modern society. Such discussion illustrates the increasing attention on education has triggered a wide debate over whether tit is more difficult to raise children with society’s advance. It is much more difficult to foster children than before, because the increasing costs of education, higher demands of teachers, the significance of parental education, and the information explosion. First and foremost, parents have to shoulder

huge economical pressure surging in recent years. In fact, no one can deny the importance of money invested in education, because it is a truth that the better educational resource deserves the higher investment(Tao Xingzhi). For this point, some people may question - what about the basic education? Is the cost of general education also increasing? The answer is Yes. Honestly, “The average cost of tuition and required fees per academic year at degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States increased dramatically between the 1997-1998 and 2017-2018 academic years” (“College Tuition and Student Loan”). Although the average income had increased with the improvement of

society, but the increase doesn’t equals the staggering

$57208.” (“College Tuition and Student Loan”).

rate of tuition. The rise of every year is just about 5.6

So we can make a credible guess that the

percent(Kurt), but “annual tuition and fees for in-state

medium-stage families have to expend more

student at four-year public universities risen by 110

income to give their children to own better

percent during that period, from $4740 to $9970.

resources.

Meanwhile, average tuition and fees at four-year

Just take my uncle’s family as an

private nonprofit institution grown by 65 percent,

example. The couple really want to their daughter

from $21020 to $34740 per year” (“College Tuition

—my cousin has the ability to be an extraordinary

and Student Loan”). The

girl, which means that

differences between

they push her to study

income and educational

several skills to enrich

investment is tremendous,

herself. One of their aim

because people cannot

is to shape her daughter

make the balance of

to be a versatile woman,

payments. Parents have to

so they asked my cousin

do more work to fill in

to take the piano lessons

holes, which means that parents should work much

after-school classes. My aunt complained to me

harder than before to meet the same and basic

that the cost of such classes is relatively

education demands— affording the tuition and fees of

astonishing. Her girl has studied piano for three

college. It is interesting that the tuition of top-ranking

years and the course costs 800 Yuan per hour, two

universities in International cities included the best

hours per lesson, twice every week have pushed

educational resources is higher and higher. “Columbia

my aunt and her husband to struggle for their

University in New York City, for example, had the

livelihood because they are just common wage-

highest published tuition and fees of any American

earning class. This kind of cost has occupied one

school for the 2017 to 2018 school year at

third of their income. But unfortunately, this

this phenomenon is so common that everyone has become inured to the unusual. For parents, they are willing to cost lots of money on educational investment, but they still want to see that teachers have enough ability to impart the most useful knowledges to their children, which equals the money they invested in education. So the demands of teachers become more difficult and strict; therefore, raising children is more difficult than before. In the other hand, the definition of high-qualified also changed a lot. In the past, the main demand of extraordinary students in China is working hard to get good scores, but people tend to train the students to be all-around recently. Meanwhile, parents put higher expectations on teachers, hope they play an extremely huge and positive role in students’ development. The new paradigm of teacher education has several characteristics. “First of all, it is based on constructivism rather than on a transmission-oriented model” (“Teacher preparation, International Perspective”); It is so hard for teachers to meet the demand because they need to be a guide, leading students to discover the possibilities within themselves, which means that the qualified teachers should be engaged, reflective, thoughtful, and effective. (“Teacher preparation, International Perspective”). In other words, teachers need to take such teacher training; this label reflected the actual process of giving prospective teachers or non-certified in-serve teachers some subject matter knowledge and some pedagogical tools so that they could transfer information to their students. But only a few teachers can pass the long-term and regular training to become an idealized guid for students, which means the higher demands of teachers decreased the

number of qualified teachers. Because of the lack

my indiscipline and develop a correct world view

of outstanding teachers, students just have a low

for me. Because of their aim, they adopted a mild

probability to meet a helpful and qualified

way by using my favorite cartoon characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

teacher, who guides them to take huge progresses.

valuable personality to influence me. In order to

All in all, it is harder to raise children in school

have a better resonating discussion, they spent

nowadays.

lots of time watching cartoons. With the deeper

As parents, the guidance from them to

discussion talking, I finally appreciated their heart

children is one of the most significant parts of a

and desire to make me better and was affected by

childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. With the self-awareness that is

their unique but efficient way of educating. It is

increasing of children today, the single preach has

impossible for parents to avoid such new

lost its meaning because children no longer

problems about children education. Instead they

resonate with it, and will not listen to those

are supposed to figure it out with deliberate

words. So nowadays, most parents who want to

thought. However, my grandparents just did

play a crucial and positive role on raising children

physical punishment while my father was in

tried their best to figure out the high-efficiency

traitorous period, which is the easiest and coarsest

educational ways, which means they need to

way to warn children the things they cannot do.

spend more time on thinking about children. My

According to the contrast, parents today take

parents are a good example because they used

more painstaking care on education than before.

delicate ways to teach me happily instead of

Finally, somebody we may question if

hurting my feelings. When I was a little girl, I was

it is more convenient to research educational

so difficult to be controlled that every teacher

resources on the Internet society. But the reason

usually called my parents to school. At that time, I

why the internet plays a more negative role rather

didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice my faults completely, which made

than positive role in the raising of children today

my parents have no clue about how to teach me.

is that the excessive development of the internet

But they never abandoned me; they talked all

leads society to get an information explosion. Too

night in order to figure out a way to correct my

much information can disturb the concentration of

of both adults and children, which affects their judgement to help them pick up the truth in these chaotic times. “The information overflowing children because they are lack of the ability to judge the character of it. Meanwhile, the wrong information is also easy to lead parents’ thoughts chaotically.” (“Information Explosion”). This suggests that the Internet also can play a negative role in education nowadays. All in all, the increasing cost of money, the higher level to be a good teacher, increasing difficulty to be good parents, and the information-explosion society is experiencing, are all persuading evidence to prove that it is harder to raise and educate children. We should take care of ourselves to go away from such negative impacts, and grab good resources to create a better educational environment.

Less Guns, Less Casualties ? Recently there was a big shooting in Las Vegas, where a man killed fifty-eight people. Now the victim’s family members are looking for a reason why, and are asking for stricter gun control laws.Gun control is a way to regulate the production and possession of guns. For example, to do a background check on people before they are allowed to buy a gun, and limit the amount of guns a person is allowed to have. With such measurements people that are depressed or have an unstable personality would not get access to guns preventing them from murdering others. Other people say that gun control should be loosened to get easier access to guns for protection. Gun control should be increased, since there would be less gun related accidents, less suicide, and it would prevent crimes like homicide.

Stricter gun control laws would prevent gun related accidents, where people get badly injured because of wrong handling of a gun (Weil). There was a four year old girl in Florida who accidentally shot herself in the chest while looking through her grandmother’s purse for candy. Another incident occurred in Oklahoma, where a three year old boy shot his mother in the head. Some people argue that this only happens because some people do not know how to handle a handgun correctly, and that these incidents can not be prevented. Shouldn’t we make sure that people that don’t know how to handle a handgun do not come into the possession of one through stricter gun control.

Another important reason to increase gun control is the high suicide rate through guns. Stricter gun control, that limits the possession of guns can reduce the amount of murder and suicide through guns. No family is perfect. After a strong conflict or a frustrating event people are very quick to take up a gun, especially when it’s in their reach. Stricter gun control would prevent these deaths just by taking away the murderer’s weapon. If there was no gun, a person would have to think about killing themselves instead of

just quickly pulling the trigger, and would maybe come to the conclusion that they do not want to die.

Some people might argue that you need guns to protect yourself from crime, and that people carrying a gun are safe (McGarrell), but the amount of people who actually protect themselves using a gun is tiny in comparison to the amount of people that die due to gun related crimes.(Weil) Studies Show that only 258 incidents in the USA in 2012 where people used a gun to protect themselves. This number does not compare to the 4,342 murders committed using firearms.(Michael)

Most importantly, strict gun control will reduce crime, especially homicide.The Las Vegas shooting would not have happened with stricter gun control. The man that shot fifty-eight people had several weapons in his possession. With stricter gun control, he would not have been able to get that many, or any at all. Stricter gun control laws would prevent such a significant amount of guns in the country therefore reducing the amount of armed robberies or other gun related crime.

In my opinion it would be worth it to increase gun control laws. To prevent many people from dying. If stricter laws prevent even a single death, having them is worth it.

Works Cited:

Weil, Douglas. “Gun Control Can Reduce Violent Crime.” Guns and Crime, edited by Tamara L. Roleﬀ, Greenhaven Press, 2000. At Opposing Viewpoints in Context

McGarrell, Edmund F. “Current Gun Control Laws Will Not Reduce Violent Crime. “ Violence, edited by Laura K. Egendorf, Greenhaven Press, 2001. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

Michael McLaughlin, “CRIME”, 2015

BY TOBIAS GRIEB

A Necessary Or Unnecessary Evil? By Benjamin Akers

Maybe we would learn better by learning more in class when the sun is up so that the brain gets the energy that's needed. When the sun goes down, we as humans get tired and and want to rest. When is study hall? 7:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. the sun is down at that time. We are tired and want to rest . This makes homework a weird thing to do. Students must sit by themself and think all alone to complete this task. Meanwhile during classes, the sun is up and students are interacting, arguing, learning new things. The human brain is made to learn from talking and seeing other options, not completing math sheets in isolation to get better. It’s better to do a interactive class where students can discuss diﬀerent ways to solve the problem to find the best one for each student. A class discussion or completing a lab is the best way to learn; therefore, homework is not necessary. In addition to not being helpful, homework also creates a lot of anxiety for teenagers.

I’m stressed, angry, frustrated over this homework. Is it even necessary? Why can’t we work on this during class so we don’t have to stress this badly. I have written a paper three times to try to get it strong enough for a good grade. Now it’s late, and it just gets worse. I’m more anxious. We could have every class be thirty minutes longer so we could work on papers, and homework in class instead of at night. I have to try to concentrate all day as hard as I can, and then when I just want to rest, we have homework. I take medicine which runs out after a certain amount of hours and is usually out of my system by the time I go to complete my homework, and many kids in the rest of the world feel the same way that I do. However, teachers, and parents feel that homework is necessary because it is repetition and repetition helps us to learn new things, but does it? In actuality, homework only stresses kids out, especially in America where it is so important to get a good education. In today's education system too much homework is given because educators think it will help the kids when it in fact does not; homework is not necessary for learning content, it creates undue stress and anxiety for students, and sometimes teenagers have to stay up late so that they become sick and tired which leads to mood swings and other consequences.

Maybe we would learn better by learning more in class when the sun is up so that the brain gets the energy that's needed. When the sun goes down, we as humans get tired and and want to rest. When is study hall? 7:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. the sun is down at that time. We are tired and want to rest . This makes homework a weird thing to do. Students must sit by themself and think all alone to complete this task. Meanwhile during classes, the sun is up and students are interacting, arguing, learning new things. The human brain is made to learn from talking and seeing other options, not completing math sheets in isolation to get better. It’s better to do a interactive class where students can discuss different ways to solve the problem to find the best one for each student. A class discussion or completing a lab is the best way to learn; therefore, homework is not necessary. In addition to not being helpful, homework also creates a lot of anxiety for teenagers.

Parents and the teachers

Finally all this homework also messes with students sleep

are going to say homework is good

pattern. For example a students at

for repetition. In fact, to have two-

Hebron Academy with a lot of

three hours of homework a night is

homework reported going to sleep at

just exhausting. It takes away our

4:00 A.M. yes four o'clock in the morning. This happened with great frequency, This student received three hours of sleep. That is just

childhood if you think about it you are only a child for eighteen years and then its out in the real world.

absurd. How he can be functioning

Educators want to ruin it with

on this amount of sleep? It is bad for

homework. Teenagers spend forty-

your brain, it stunts your growth, and

five hours a week on schoolwork

the brain doesn’t even have time to

and the average work week for an

process all of what he learned the

American is thirty-four point four

day before so it is like almost like he never did it. For example there is an article about sleep and school it was shocking to discover that a really

hours. We work ten hours more than the normal american (Ididori). Teenagers need the most sleep of

good student who went to a good

all age groups, preferably eight to

school district and had good grades

ten hours of sleep a night, but we

had to stay up until midnight every

don’t get it and also with the anxiety

day to finish his homework, and it

it does not help either. We live in a

wasn’t like he fell asleep at 12:10

world where a lot of kids have

every night. This both stunts your

anxiety because of homework, and

growth and makes your brain work less efficiently (Canapari). Too much homework causes kids to not get enough sleep and that affects their health. They

it doesn’t even help us though we need to learn in groups. Not sitting in a room at night reading or doing

will not grow properly and their brain

some math problems. We need to

will suffer and not work correctly.

get the experiences; that is how we as humans learn the best without a question.

”I’m stressed, angry, frustrated over this homework. Is it even necessary?”

Work Cited

“Introduction to Do Students Have Too Much Homework?: At issue.” Do Students Have Too Much Homework?, edited by Judeen Bartos, GReenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Opposing viewpoints in Context, http:// link.galegroup.com/

Canapari, Craig. “Too Much Homework, Too Little Sleep: Structural Sleep Deprivation in Teens.”Proven advice for better sleep in kids and parents. October 11 2012. Webb 20 feb 2018

https://drcraigcanapari.com

Ididore, Chris, and Tami Luhby. “Turns out Americans Work Really Hard.” Cnn.money, Cable News Network, 9 July 2015, money.cnn.com/2015/07/09/ news/economy/americans-work-bush/index.html.

We Need Sleep After a long night’s practice, Jake heads back home around 10:00 P.M and starts his homework which, keeps him up until 12:00 A.M. He stays up for another hour just to talk to friend and be on social media. He has to wake up at 6:00 tomorrow morning for school. That only gives him five hours of sleep, when for an average teenage boy, eight to ten hours of sleep is recommended. If students are not getting enough sleep then this starts to affect their production in school. School is one of the most important things in a child’s life. If students are not able to retain and understand what they are taught, it is going to be hard to pass that class or even stay focused. Therefore, school should start at a later time of the day. There are many reasons why this is a much better idea, but there are three main points which are: more sleep, helps people learn better, and it helps with learning responsibility.

With a later start to school, this provides the possibility of students reaching this maximum sleep that is needed to function. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens naturally have irregular sleep patterns across the week, typically staying up late and sleeping in late on weekends (“Teens and Sleep”). Why go against this rhythm when one could just work with it by making school start later? This will also help provide a steady sleep schedule which is also helpful for the human body. It has been proved that a regular sleep schedule improves concentration, memory, mood, energy levels and even increasing your lifespan(Borowski). These aspects not only will benefit students in school, but also outside of school with athletics and daily life. If school was to start later it would help students learn more, and better. A later start will help students get the right amount of sleep which then leads to a fresh brain. It also gives the opportunity for children to have some of their own responsibility. Most parents will start work before school starts which will make children have to figure out how to make breakfast on their own and a way to school.

Some people might say that Works cited a later start to school will create trouble since no parent is around, but this actually helps “Teens and sleep” with making your child more independent and smarter. National Sleep “Children Were given the Foundation Sleep.org. opportunity and guidance to 2018 12.2.18 web explore achievement activities of their own choosing. There also good decision makers because Borowski Zoe “Why they was allowed to a Regular consider various options. There also good decision makers Sleep [Psychology today] ” because they was allowed to Another problem is that Schedule consider various options. with a later start to school Benefits [Psychology today] ” means a later ending time Your Health” to the school day, which will Care2. take away from practice time. Actually with a start HealthyLiving . Dec. of 9:30 A.M to 3:30 P.M is still 28.2015 2.12.18 seven hours of school which is plenty of time. Now that the time of school Taylor, Jim. “Parenting: has changed over to 9:30 Jack Raise Independent has had enough time to Children.” Psychology complete everything to the best of his ability while getting the Today, Sussex right amount of sleep and also Publishers, 17 Nov. doing things on the side that he 2010, loves to do. This simple time www.psychologytoday.co movement benefited his whole life. He now has the best grades m/blog/the-power-prime/ he has ever had and is now a top 201011/parenting-raiseperformer on his sports teams independent-children. and also gets to hang out with friends. These things are all important to a students life.

What’s

Best

For

You

One of Sports required in the best schools is college prep. things “Higher education about institutions want more sports from prospective students is that than academics, they look you for well-rounded students don't to fill up their classes” have to (Berman). Having sports play in schools give students alone. Sport are normally involves an opportunity to enhance teamwork. Sports help a lot of their college people in many different ways. applications. They can Sports should definitely be also serve as a required in schools.“Children on motivation for talented teams discover athletes to the positive work hard in feelings “It offers students the opportunity to their associated with classrooms. cheering others build confidence and leaderships skills, it Players need and feeling to meet proud of also has a huge opportunity of teammates, as established well as their participation” standards to owns”(Kaminsky). be admitted At the same time in college, many kids find or to stress on the field. Children participate in sports. feel too much pressure on the When applying to field, as well as in class. colleges, regardless of Sometimes they don't have enough the collegiate location time for family or homework. The or statues, most schools emphasis on winning, this can be will review an too stressful for some children. They need a break. They can applicant's full foursuffer injuries and sports year transcript, which sometimes can be really not only includes your dangerous, such as skiing, grades, but also includes lacrosse, basketball, hockey, or a curricular saying that many more that can result in you have played sports really serious injuries. Another during your life. However thing exciting about sports is that is not the most the risk to save your goal; important thing about sometimes you fall, sometimes you sports, sports are lose, or sometimes you win, but important because they is always worth the risk. One of the most important things you guarantee you good learn from sports is to save your health. sportmates or friends in every game or occasion that you have. Sports should be requiered because it helps your health, it helps your application for colleges, and it gives you free time to spend with your family and friends.

Last but not least sports should be required in school because of friends and the stress relief. Sports as I said before are normally a team sport, and what they mostly do is shear responsibilities. They have a lot of pressure to win and that can really get into a fight. Sports are a good way to take a mental brake, to not think all the time about your homework, and take a break from all the things that they are worried about. It is true that we have to respect each others opinions, and maybe you want to be an architect, and you do not care at all about sports, but you go to school a short time of your life, when your bones are developing and you have to take advantage of growing

In conclusion, sports should definitely be required in schools. They benefit a lot of things, mentally and physically. It's a time of the day when you can disconnect and have fun with your friends, and the most important thing is that you stay in shape. One of the most important things in the sport is that you have to start from a young age because it is easier to play more if you have already learned since you were a child. You can start playing a sport when you're older, but you're not going to play the same if you've been using the technique for many years. Never leave a half sport, keep playing it do not give up because no one said that sports are easy but it is one of the things that you will appreciate the most if you play them your entire life. You will always have to enjoy any sport you play, and it is the best way to distract you from

You can start playing a sport when you're older, but you're not going to play the same if you've been using the technique for many years. Never leave a half sport, keep playing it do not give up because no one said that sports are easy but it is one of the things that you will appreciate the most if you play them your entire life. You will always have to enjoy any sport you play, and it is the best way to distract you from everything, such as problems, homework, and it's a good way to spend time with your family or with your friends. take care of

yourself, do not stay without doing anything and always be active.

your homework, and take a break from all the things that they are worried about. It is true that we have to respect each others opinions, and maybe you want to be an architect, and you do not care at all about sports, but you go to school a short time of your life, when your bones are developing and you have to take advantage of growing and doing something other than the one thing you're going to be doing the rest of your life.

A Beacon of Hope In The Middle East

Gardner Skiff

“For there to be peace in Palestine and Israel Palestinian leaders and the of Palestine people must acknowledge that Israel has the right to be free from, rocket attacks, terrorism, military assault and diplomatic warfare.” This quote from Renowned Harvard professor and legal scholar Alan Dershowitz explains that we must see both side of the IsraelPalestine conflict. What do both sides want? Palestine wants a state in what is now Israel controlled land and wants “illegal” Israeli settlements to halt in east Jerusalem. Israel wants the constant rocket attacks from Gaza to stop and for their capital of Jerusalem to be internationally recognized as Israeli land. Through all of this heated debate we must realize that there is only one solution. That Israel the only stable government in the and therefore region govern and control the land that is currently Israel, Gaza strip and East Jerusalem.

First Israel has excelled in the region while all other countries are falling behind, The literacy rate among Israelis is 98.9 percent and of the majority Jewish population it is 100%, we compare this to the surrounding Arab nations and we see the literacy rate at a staggering 60% for men and 50% for woman (Isseroff). One could look to the fact that Israel has the highest number of university degrees per capita in the world and the Arab world as a whole has the lowest number of university degrees per capita in the world (Isseroff). The people of Israel are completely free religiously and allowed to practice as they wish look to the east to a major enemy of Israel on the world scale Saudi Arabia where the conversion from Islam is punishable by the death penalty.

This is when Israel gained

We have seen that

more land, at this time Israel

Israel is more qualified,

said that the Arabs living in

more just, and much more

the conquered land would be

willing to govern fairly and

free under Israeli law but they

freely the land that is Israel-

refused to be governed by

Palestine. Israel, since its

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Zionistâ&#x20AC;? Jews, so yet again

founding has displayed a

the Arab league in 1967

pattern of fair politics,. When

attacked Israel and yet again

we compare this to the terror

they lost but this time Israel

groups governing the

took control of much more

surrounding area groups

land, but after this war Israel

and the Anti-Semitic values

gave Gaza to the Arabs to be

and beliefs of the

part of the Palestinian state

governments of the

but instead they elected

surrounding regions. If we

terrible leaders and is now

are to support true

run by the terrorist group

democracy, true justice and

Hamas (Dershowitz). But

a nation free of prejudice,

even after the Israelis have

we must stand with Israel.

tried and tried again to have peace in this region, the Arabs still vilify the peaceful state of Israel with no basis in truth but based through prejudice and lies.